Steve Spurrier to speak at I-Bowl luncheon

South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier looks on as his Gamecocks take on the Miami Hurricanes in the 2014 Duck Commander Independence Bowl December 27, 2014.(Photo: , Douglas Collier/The Times)Buy Photo

Legendary Duke, Florida and South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier will be the featured speaker of the eighth-annual Independence Bowl Foundation Kickoff Luncheon.

The Kickoff Luncheon, presented by Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Shreveport Rubber and Gasket Co. Inc., and Morehead Pools is set for Wednesday, August 9, at 11:45 a.m. at the Shreveport Convention Center.

Spurrier is no stranger to Shreveport, as he brought South Carolina to the Independence Bowl twice. The Gamecocks fell to Missouri, 38-31, in Spurrier’s first year with the program in 2005, but knocked off Miami, 24-21, in 2014, his final full season in Columbia.

Individual tickets are $50, and tables of eight are $400. Tickets to the event can be purchased by calling the Independence Bowl office at (318) 221-0712 or toll-free at (888) 414-BOWL. Tickets will also be available for purchase online at https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/DzepBJUwn3EEIE?domain=independencebowl.org.

The College Football Hall of Fame is inducting Spurrier this year for his contributions to college football as a head coach. He is a 1986 inductee of the College Football Hall of Fame from his days as a player at the University of Florida.

As a quarterback, kicker and punter at UF, Spurrier earned consensus All-America distinction in 1965 and 1966, and he won the coveted Heisman Trophy as a senior in 1966. The San Francisco 49ers drafted him with the third overall pick of the 1967 NFL Draft, and he spent nine seasons with the Niners and his final year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

After spending time as an offensive assistant coach at Florida, Georgia Tech and Duke, Spurrier took a head coaching job with the Tampa Bay Bandits of the upstart United States Football League, where he compiled a 35-21 record in three seasons.

After the USFL folded, Spurrier returned to the college ranks as a head coach, taking over the top spot at Duke, where he coached for three seasons. In 1989, Duke won the ACC Championship, which is the program’s most recent.

Proving his mettle as a head coach in his previous two stops, Spurrier took the head coaching job at his alma mater, and led the Gators to unprecedented success. With the Head Ball Coach at the helm, the Gators won six SEC Championships, and an outright national title in 1996.

His “Fun ‘n’ Gun” style of offenses produced eye-popping results, and led Spurrier to be the first Heisman winner to coach a Heisman Trophy winner, as quarterback Danny Wuerffel took home the award in the 1996 season.

After a two-year stint in the NFL with the Washington Redskins, Spurrier returned to the SEC as the head coach at South Carolina. South Carolina also saw unprecedented success with Spurrier at the helm, as he lead the Gamecocks to the SEC Championship game for the first time, and produced three-consecutive 11-win seasons.

Spurrier’s career collegiate coaching record stands at 228-89-2, and he is the winningest coach at Florida and South Carolina. He was named the ACC Coach of the Year twice and the SEC Coach of the Year seven times.